Review: “The Whipping Man” Wows
Posted by: Dan Shaw
Posted on: Sunday, May 30, 2010
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Full Article
Barrington Stage Company Stage 2 through June 17
Why is this play different than all other plays? Certainly, it’s the premise. Have you ever before seen a drama about three Jewish men—two of whom happen to be newly freed slaves—who share a house at the end of the Civil War? But it’s also the raw yet polished production of Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man: Barrington Stage has found three actors who—as individuals and as an ensemble—leave you trembling with awe.
After seeing The Whipping Man, you will never be able to experience a Passover seder the same way. On the day after Abrahma Lincoln is assassinated, two recently freed slaves and the son of their former master share an improvised seder on the floor of a plantation house in Richmond, Virginia. When the recently freed slave played by Clarke Peters sings “Let My People Go,” the traditional song about the Jews’ fleeing Pharoah in Egypt, you’re made achingly aware of the layer of hypocrisy that blinded ostensibly religious people to the immorality of slavery. As weighty as the subject matter is, Lopez’s play is a soaring, exhilarating piece of theater that makes your mind race and your heart pound. His rapid fire dialogue is often extremely clever and theatrical, but it never feels forced or unnatural.
Director Christopher Innvar could not have wished for a better cast, and you get to witness how great actors thrive off each other’s energy and skill. As Simon, the elder slave with a long memory, Clarke Peters (who’s well known for his role on HBO’s The Wire and the TV show Treme) is the play’s center of gravity who manages to hold onto his faith despite all the hurt and betrayal he has known. Peters’ brilliant, powerful peformance, which deflty blends rage and compassion, is miraculously matched by his co-stars: Nick Westrate as Caleb, the severely wounded Confederate solider who comes home to find his family’s mansion in ruins, and LeRoy McClain as John, the newly freed bookish slave who played with Caleb when they were both boys. As friends turned rivals, they play a game of cat and mouse that is taut and suspenseful and Westrate and McClain don’t let up for a second.
Everything about this production syncs beautifully. Sandra Goldmark has put real candle sconces on the walls of the set, a small touch with huge impact on the authenticity of the mood on stage. Kristina Lucka’s handsome costumes help define each character with pinpoint accuracy. And the modern music by Brad Berridge is a compelling counterpoint to the historicism of the drama. In this era of YouTube, HiDef movies and video-on-demand, Barrington Stage Company has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that you don’t need any special effects for live theater to be suspensefully spine-tingling, intellectually stimulating, and extraordinarily entertaining.
The Whipping Man
Barrington Stage Company Stage 2
36 Linden Street, Pittsfield, MA
